The Aerie

Located near the slopes of Mount Mara in Northern Greenland stands the world’s great northern refuge. Hidden atop impassable cliffs, honeycombed into a natural fortress of stone, is the Aerie, home of the Avians, a human-variant race with bird-like adaptations.
Although Avian history is unclear, it appears their race is a genetic offshoot of humanity, most likely the result of Preserver experimentation. Similarities between the Avians and winged humanoids from Areesh (a planet “seeded” by the Preservers) support this conclusion. The Avians have dwelt apart from humans (“the grounders”) throughout their recorded history. The oldest structures in the Aerie appear beyond current Avian technology, and may have been built by whomever settled them there. These proto-Avians were also responsible for the creation of nearby Timelost Valley, a vast, hidden wonderland where Pleistocene megafauna like wooly mammoths and smilodons still exist and thrive.
The Avians have become the focus of various legends and folktales over the years. Many people are aware of Avian civilization, but few know the actual location of the Aerie. The United Nations has declared the Aerie a sovereign state, although the Avians decline U.N. membership or representation within the community of nations. More than anything, they want only to be left alone.
In the past, misunderstandings, intrusions on the Aerie, or human carelessness (particularly involving airborne pollution or aircraft) has led to conflict between Avians and humans, even the threat of all-out war. Many of these crises were acerbated by the Avian warrior Talona, perhaps the most infamous of her race, who has championed their cause and threatened the outside world on many occasions. Fate has recently provided the perfect rallying cry for Talona: in the past few years, the melting of Arctic glaciers caused by worldwide climate change has triggered landslides that threaten the Timelost Valley and the Aerie itself.
Avians have an agrarian culture with domesticated animals and also hunt for food in the mountains. Game is plentiful in the Timelost Valley and conventional game such as musk ox are plentiful in other areas. However, climate change has begun to threaten their hunting grounds. If these problems can’t be dealt with, the Avians will be forced to hunt over greater distances and possibly prey on animals that already belong to the grounders. Unless a minor miracle occurs to address the damage to the Aerie and Timelost Valley, it’s probable the Avians will rise up to “defend” their homeland once again.